Shelbdog's Blog at LumberJocks.comhttp://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog
Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:01:51 GMTTime to get serious about woodworking #2: Unboxing the New Table Saw (Powermatic PM2000)http://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog/39085
This blog post will discuss how my new table saw (Powermatic PM2000) came packaged from the factory and how it was delivered . I think someone that plans on buying this saw might find this posting very informal and what they will expect when taking delivery.

I ordered my new saw through ACME tools and my actual sales guy ended up personally delivering the saw right to my house. He transported the saw in a 1ton pickup with a liftgate. It was nice, he backed the truck right up to my garage to unload it. My new tablesaw came with 5 packages total, first package was large wood pallet covered with a cardboard box to protect everything; which contains the steel cabinet, motor, trunnions, main cast iron top. The hardware, blade guard, push stick, riving knifes, miter gauge, and electrical switch box where located inside the cabinet. The cast iron wings you will find inside this main box as well inside a separate cardboard box . The majority of the tablesaws weight is located inside this wood pallet box (I would estimate 450lbs). So I wouldn’t consider picking this pallet up with standard truck unless you have a forktruck to unload the pallet.

To unload my saw the sales guy and I both moved the large wooden pallet to the back of the liftgate and lowered it right into the garage and then used some muscle to slide it off the lift gate and onto my garage floor. The other 4 packages contain the fence, fence rails & angles, motor cover, and wood extension table.

As I mentioned above the main saw comes on a wooden pallet with cardboard container covering everything and steel shipping straps over the box and under the pallet to secure everything nicely. First thing a person needs to do to unbox this unit is to cut the steel straps with a pair of tin snips. After that is completed you will need to remove the staples on the bottom to remove the cardboard box cover. After you remove the cardboard box you will notice a pair of shipping bracket that you will need to remove. I love that Powermatic used these brackets because it keeps the saw from shifting during shipment. Powermatic drilled and tapped 2 holes into the cast iron base specifically for this bracket. I think its a 1/2” wrench you will need to loosen the bracket attached to the cast iron base. The other end of the bracket is secured to the pallet with lag screw. You will need to remove both brackets before you can take the saw of the wooden pallet. Wooden strips are nailed to the pallet base on all four sides and will need to be removed as well

I wanted to get the table saw off the wooden pallet that night, so I moved one edge of the saw to the edge of the pallet. The saw was slightly overhanging off the pallet, enough so I could just get my floor jack under it to start carrying some of the tablesaws weight. I used a piece of 1×4 between the jack & saw to span the distance of the saw base. This allowed me to have the jack carry the majority of the weight on one end of the saw while I positioned the other end of the saw just on the end of the pallet. I asked my wife for help during that step. Next, I got under the saw from non-jack end and lifted the saw from the pallet and slowly lowered the saw to the floor while my wife made sure the jacked didn’t shift or move to far during the lift (that part takes some muscle). Now that I had one end on the garage floor, I went to the jack end and lifted up on the saw while my wife pulled the jack out from under saw. I slowly lowered the saw to the ground to ensure I wouldn’t damage the cast iron base. It worked just like a charm. I will discuss the actual assembly of the saw on my next blog post.

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Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:01:51 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog/39085ShelbdogShelbdogTime to get serious about woodworking #1: New Table Sawhttp://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog/39021
So after purchasing my first table saw about 3 1/2 years ago (old 2hp contractor grade craftsmen) I finally purchased a table saw that I could take my woodworking skills to the next level. 3 1/2 years ago I purchased my first home with attached 2 car garage. That allowed me to finally have some room to complete some woodworking. So I purchased a old craftsmen table saw off CL for around $100. This would allow me to complete my first woodworking project for the house and that project was to complete a custom walk-in closet with shelf’s, hanging racks, & custom shoe rack. I was very happy with how the saw operated for my first project, but the deeper I got into that project and other projects over the years I developed need for more precision work and add functionality of higher end table saw (ie…..dust collection, cast iron wings, nice level cast iron top without a dip, more rip capacity, riving knife, reliable fence that does not wonder during a cut, built-in mobile base).

So by now you might want to know what I purchased….I went with 3hp Powermatic (PM2000) with 30” fence system. It took a lot thinking back and forth over the years. I spent probably 100 hours reading different reviews, I stopped at ACME tool and Woodsmith store multiple times to look over all the choices on the market. Spending close to 3k on a table saw, a person wants to know they are making the right choice. But the first question I asked myself and anyone that is in a similar position should ask themselves, do I want to get serious about woodworking as hobby. If you are not serious about taking woodworking to the next level that 3k could be spent some other way (maybe pay down student debt or a car loan, or purchase a new boat, or whatever a person enjoys doing in there spare time). Once I made my decision on pursing woodworking as a serious hobby it was pretty easy decision to pull the trigger on the purchase and I have not regretted it for one moment.

So some people might be wondering why I picked the Powermatic over the Saw Stop, Delta Unisaw, Grizzly, Jet so here are some of my thoughts of reasoning.

Saw Stop – I honestly almost went for this saw, the quality and construction was nice, but I hated the mobile base, and the main reason people purchase this saw, the safety factor, sort of turned me away, I hated that I would need to change the cartridge every time I wanted to change to a dado blade. The company has only been around since 2000 compared to Powermatic 1921, that got my engineering brain thinking Powermatic’s engineering staff has thousands of more hours of experience and they should be able to build a better table saw.

Delta Unisaw - I have delta planer, jointer, & drill press in my shop and they are all quality built machines. The quality of the Unisaw in the stores when I visited was right up there. I love how the control knobs for blade height & angle adjustment are located on the front of the machine. Some of the reviews I was reading on this machine were good and some bad. The 3 reasons for not purchasing this saw 1. customer service & quality control in the manufacturing facilities overseas seems to be crap. Many of the reviews I read stated; because they have been sold numerous times over the years that their high level of customer service & manufacturing quality control has suffered. (add yes I know all table saws are built overseas, but a badly manufactured table saw doesn’t come from the fact its built overseas. Its a companies engineering’s department that determines the level of quality through tolerance’s on there engineering documents and making ensure they enforce those quality standards at the manufacturing facility). 2. Price – the Unisaw was over $500 more then my Powermatic 3. I hated the mobile compared to the integrated powermatic caster system.

Grizzly – I love the price point of Grizzly and I have heard mostly good stuff about their equipment. However, I’m not located near a Grizzly retail location. If I could have seen one of their table saws face-to-face I might have purchased one. Once again I hated their mobile base and this more then all the other OEM’s because you had to make your own hardwood support rails. Not a big deal, but Grizzly honestly should make a mobile base specifically for this saw.

What I loved about the Powermatic: The dust collection, they engineered a shroud that comes up around the blade with a tube that runs down to the 4” outlet port. This really eliminates large amounts of dust collecting all over the motor & trunnion. The built-in caster style mobile base, I honestly love the clean look and its simple to use. Just pull out the angle adjustment knob and crank it up or down and 4 casters under the cast iron base start to raise the table saw. I love the quick release on the riving knife and the blade inserts, the blade insert has plunge springs on the side that keep the insert tight in the opening. Honestly there is nothing special about the fence system on this saw put compared to my old craftsmen saw its a million times better and its the reason I love using this saw. From what I could read the customer services is amazing and Powermatic hires engineers to be present at the manufacturing facilities overseas to ensure that those manufactures maintain the quality level Powermatic ensures its customers. Plus I also have a soft spot for the colors black & gold since I’m a Iowa Hawkeye fan & Alumni. I next plan to blog about the assembly of the Powermatic table saw (how it was packaged & easy of assembly).

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Wed, 18 Dec 2013 22:11:44 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog/39021ShelbdogShelbdogFinding the right cabinet sawhttp://lumberjocks.com/Shelbdog/blog/33595
I’m searching for a cabinet saw to replace my old 2hp craftsman. I want peoples opinions on finding the best saw for my money. I have been looking at different brands, asking sales people questions, reading reviews for the last few months and I would like peoples straight up opinions regarding the saws I mention below. I’m hoping a few people on this site can offer good opinions regarding the actual saws I mention or at least have enough experience using a cabinet saw to suggest a specific saw based on features, quality, actual usage, and price.

The reason I’m looking for a new saw. I need better quality cuts so I can build furniture with great accuracy and minimize fit-up issues. Currently my Craftsmen saw has a slight dip in the middle of the cast iron table (I assume from the weight of the motor and trunnion mounted to the bottom of the table). This causes the blade to not be 90 deg to the table, I’m always fighting this. The fence does not stay tight enough when clamped down, so I get slight movement at the end of my cuts (this is a screw take-up style fence, not a T-square type). Dust collection does not exist (this is because its a contractor type saw). The stamp extensions are never flush with the top of the cast table. It would be nice to have a extension table because I do a lot with plywood and with me building new cabinets for the garage, built-in bookshelfs for the office, and bulit-in nook for the mud room I think I could really benefit from an extension table and longer fence.